JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


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JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 

AND 

ENGLISH  STYLES  IN  OAK  AND  WALNUT 


BY 

HELEN  CHURCHILL  CANDEE 

Author  of  "Decorative  Styles  and  Periods," 
"The  Tapestry  Book,"  Etc. 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright \  1976,  by 
Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company 


All  rights  reserved 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    Early  Jacobean  Styles  3 

James  I  Crowned  1603. 

II    Jacobean  Styles  to  Charles  II  14 

III  The  Middle  of  the  Century  27 

End  of  the  Pure  Jacobean. 

IV  Carolean  Styles  or  the  Restoration     ...  37 

Charles  II,  1660  to  1685. 


V 


The  End  of  the  Seventeenth  Century 
William  and  Mary,  1 689-1 702. 


48 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PLATE 

I    The  small  Jacobean  room  of  elegance 

and  intimacy  Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

II    Late  Tudor  mantel   4 

III  Late   Tudor   bed     .     .   5 

IV  Large  oak  chest   6 

V    Early  Jacobean  chest  of  carved  oak    ...  7 

VI    Oak  chest  with  drawers   8 

VII    Oak  stand  and  marquetry  cabinet    ...  9 
VIII    Gate-leg  table,   forming  console  with  gate 

closed   io 

IX    Oak  chairs   u 

X    Oak  chest  of  drawers   12 

XI    Early  Jacobean  cabinet   13 

XII    Oak  chairs   16 

XIII  Spiral  turned  chair,  characteristic  of  first  half 

of  Century   17 

XIV  Oak  cabinet,  dated  1653   20 

XV    Oak  gate-leg  dining  table    .     .     .     .     .     .  21 

XVI    Oak  day  beds   24 

XVII    Stuart  chairs   25 

XVIII    Marquetry  cabinet  about  1700   28 

XIX    Walnut  cabinet   29 

XX    Stuart  settee  with  carving.    Second  half  of 

XVII  Century   42 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


XXI  Charles  II  chairs  in  varying  styles  in  carving  43 

XXII  Walnut  sofa   44 

XXIII  Gilt  mirror,  time  of  Charles  II    ....  45 

XXIV  Interesting  chair  transitional  between  Stuart 

styles  and  William  and  Mary    ....  48 

XXV  Chairs  in  variants  of  William  and  Mary    .  49 

XXVI  Chest  of  drawers  in  burr  walnut  veneer   .     .  50 

XXVII  Small  walnut  table   51 

XXVIII  Carved  chairs.    Period  of  William  and  Mary  52 

XXIX  Walnut  chairs,  William  and  Mary    ...  53 

XXX  Queen  Anne  single  chair.    Queen  Anne  arm 

chair.    Walnut  Queen  Anne  chairs    .     .  54 

XXXI  Queen  Anne  chair   55 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 

CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  JACOBEAN  STYLES 
JAMES  I  CROWNED  1603 

WHEN  a  passion  for  collecting  antique  fur- 
niture first  swept  America,  and  prizes 
were  plucked  from  attics,  cellars  and  old 
barns,  the  eagle  eye  of  the  amateur  sought  only  those 
fine  pieces  that  were  made  in  the  age  of  mahogany 
and  satin-wood.  Every  piece  was  dubbed  Colonial 
with  rash  generalisation  until  the  time  when  a  little 
erudition  apportioned  the  well-made  distinctive  fur- 
niture to  its  proper  classes.  Then  every  person  of 
culture  became  expert  on  eighteenth  century  furni- 
ture, and  the  names  of  Chippendale  and  his  prolific 
mates  fell  glibly  from  all  lips. 

That  much  accomplished,  the  collector  and  home- 
maker  then  threw  an  intelligent  eye  on  another  page 
of  history  and  realised  that  the  seventeenth  century 
and  certain  bits  of  oak  and  walnut  that  had  stood 
neglected,  belonged  to  an  equally  interesting  period 
of  America's  social  development. 

3 


4 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


All  at  once  the  word  Jacobean  was  on  every 
tongue,  as  Colonial  had  been  before.  Attics,  cel- 
lars and  barns  were  searched  again,  this  time  for 
oak  and  walnut,  not  mahogany,  and  for  heavy  square 
construction,  not  for  bandy  legs  and  delicate  re- 
straint. It  was  the  marvellous  carved  chest  that  first 
announced  itself,  and  then  a  six-legged  highboy,  and 
the  lower  part  of  a  thousand-legged  table — which 
now  we  call  a  gate.  These,  we  said  with  inspiration, 
are  the  gods  of  the  first  settlers;  mahogany  is  but 
modern  stuff. 

But  this  time  we  were  more  savant  than  before, 
and  instead  of  starving  our  eager  minds  on  the  occa- 
sional resurrected  American  bit,  we  went  at  once  to 
the  source,  to  England,  and  there  found  in  abundance 
(for  the  long  purse)  a  charming  sequence  of  styles 
covering  all  the  times  of  our  earlier  history  as  settlers 
and  colonisers.  Thus  were  we  able  to  identify  these 
strange  early  pieces  of  our  own  and  to  recognise  our 
quarry  when  found  in  a  dusty  corner. 

That  very  old  pieces  still  are  found,  pieces  brought 
over  here  in  the  days  of  their  mode,  is  proved  to  any 
collector.  In  two  towns  on  Long  Island  Sound  I 
recently  found  for  sale  two  six-legged  highboys, 
William  and  Mary,  and  that  great  rarity,  a  straight 
oak  chair  known  as  a  Farthingale  chair,  made  with- 
out arms  for  the  purpose  of  accommodating  the  enor- 
mous crinoline  or  farthingale  of  its  day.  This 
chair  may  have  supported  the  stiffly  dressed  ladies  of 


Plate  II— LATE  TUDOR  MANTEL 
From  a  house  built  in  1606,  which  shows  a  toning  of  Tudor  style  into  Jacobea 


Plate  III — LATE  TUDOR  BED 
With   motifs  which  characterised  early  Jacobean  carving,   dated  1593 


EARLY  JACOBEAN  STYLES 


5 


Elizabeth's  court,  so  like  it  was  to  the  Italian  models 
of  Tudor  times. 

The  pity  of  it  is,  that  no  sooner  had  the  artistic  eye 
of  the  true  collector  begun  to  search  for  seventeenth 
century  furniture  than  the  commercial  eye  of  the 
modern  manufacturer  began  to  make  hideous  varia- 
tions on  its  salient  features.  He  caught  the  name  of 
Jacobean  and  to  every  piece  of  ill-drawn  furniture 
he  affixed  a  spiral  leg  and  the  Stuart  name;  or,  he 
set  a  serpentine  flat  stretcher  and  called  his  mahog- 
any dining  set,  William  and  Mary.  These  tasteless 
things  fill  our  department  stores,  and  it  is  they  that 
are  rapidly  filling  American  homes.  And  the  worst 
of  it  is,  that  both  buyers  and  sellers  are  startlingly 
yet  pathetically  glib  with  attaching  historic  names  to 
the  mongrel  stuff,  and  thus  are  they  misled. 

New  furniture  must  be  made,  however,  or  resort 
must  be  had  to  soap-boxes  and  hammocks.  The  old 
models  are  the  best  to  follow  for  the  reason  that  the 
present  is  not  an  age  of  creation  in  this  direction. 
The  stylist  is  always  a  hobby-rider,  and  I  must  con- 
fess to  that  form  of  activity,  but  it  is  always  with 
the  idea  in  mind  to  make  and  keep  our  homes  beauti- 
ful. And  so  I  make  the  plea  to  manufacturers  to 
stick  to  old  models  of  tried  beauty,  and  to  buyers  to 
educate  their  taste  until  they  reject  a  hybrid  or  mon- 
grel movable  with  the  same  outraged  sense  that  they 
reject  a  mongrel  dog. 

Now  let  us  pass  through  the  gate  that  leads  to 


6 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


happy  hunting-grounds  of  study  where  we  find  his- 
toric men  and  women,  both  royal  and  common,  mak- 
ing the  times  that  called  for  the  furniture  we  now 
admire  as  deeply  as  they  admired  it. 

One  might  almost  say  that  since  Henry  the 
Eighth's  introduction  of  the  styles  of  the  Italian 
Renaissance  into  England,  that  country  has  produced 
no  original  style  of  furniture.  But  lest  this  state- 
ment be  resented  by  affronted  savants  and  hurt  senti- 
mentalists, side  by  side  with  that  fact  must  be  placed 
another,  that  England  has  played  upon  the  styles  she 
imported  with  such  skill  and  grace  that  she  has  thus 
produced  variants  of  great  and  peculiar  beauty. 

England  has  taken  the  furniture  creations  of 
Europe  through  the  centuries  and  has  impressed 
them  with  her  national  traits,  with  a  resulting  beauty 
entirely  her  own.  The  effect  is  bewildering  to  all 
but  the  student  of  styles,  for  without  study  one  is 
often  unable  to  account  for  certain  alterations  of  de- 
tail and  construction.  It  cannot  be  too  often  re- 
peated that  as  each  nation  in  turn  adopted  the  Italian 
Renaissance,  that  nation  impressed  its  own  signet 
upon  the  style.    Thus  came  all  the  variations. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  in  the  case  of  England, 
the  affair  is  one  of  great  interest  and  complica- 
tion. In  the  sixteenth  century  Pistaccio  and  his 
artist  mates  hurried  from  Italy  at  the  bidding  of 
Henry  VIII  and  planted  their  classic  patterns  in  the 
British  kingdom.    That  was  an  infusion  of  the  pure 


Plate  IV— LARGE  OAK  CHEST 


In    noblest    type    of    early    Jacobean  carving 
Courtesy  of  Charles 


EARLY  JACOBEAN  STYLES 


7 


blood  of  the  Renaissance,  and  it  lasted  well  into 
Elizabeth's  time  before  the  Anglo-Saxon  tempera- 
ment altered  it  characteristically. 

By  the  time  James  I,  in  1603,  established  the  Stuart 
reign,  the  style  became  markedly  British,  and  British 
styles  called  Jacobean  in  compliment  to  James'  Latin- 
ized name,  prevailed  until  another  imported  fashion 
came  along.  Then  came  another  and  another,  and 
so  on  even  until  the  end  of  Georgian  styles  and  the 
beginning  of  Victorian. 

The  Jacobean  style  developed  serenely,  playing 
happy  pranks  with  itself,  altered  by  mechanical  in- 
ventions and  by  new  woods,  until  the  second  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  when  Charles  II  introduced 
strong  French  influence  and  Portuguese — which  was 
not  greatly  different  from  Spanish.  The  French  in- 
fluence came  lightly  from  the  light  ladies  of  the 
frivolous  court,  and  the  Portuguese  from  Charles' 
queen,  Catherine,  whose  home  was  Braganza.  Bom- 
bay as  her  dowry  threw  Eastern  colours  and  design 
into  the  melee. 

British  styles  were  not  yet  to  be  let  alone,  for  no 
sooner  was  the  French  way  set  than  the  Dutch  pat- 
tern appeared,  brought  over  by  William  and  Mary. 
Delicately  it  came  at  first,  giving  place  for  hints 
from  the  court  of  Louis  XIV,  and  then  in  full  force 
by  the  time  Anne  took  the  sceptre  in  1703.  And  all 
these  styles  imported  throughout  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, what  were  they  but  the  several  interpretations 


8 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


of  the  Renaissance  as  it  was  expressed  in  France, 
Portugal,  and  Holland  ?  Let  not  the  student  stagger 
under  these  complications  of  English  styles,  for  al- 
though there  are  yet  more  reasons  for  the  shapes  and 
ornament  of  furniture  in  England  during  the  seven- 
teenth century  they  are  all  bright  with  incidents  of 
kings  and  courts. 

Tudor  monarchs  stop  in  1603  at  Elizabeth's  death, 
but  Tudor  styles  were  not  at  once  outgrown,  rather 
they  linger  along  far  into  the  seventeenth  century, 
heavily  and  elegantly  regarding  the  newly  throned 
Stuarts  and  their  bewitching  manners.  The  Tudor 
table,  for  instance,  was  a  serious  piece  of  furniture, 
put  together  as  squarely  and  solidly  as  a  house.  Its 
enduring  qualities  are  proved  by  the  number  of  these 
tables  still  extant  which,  as  refectory  tables,  are 
the  smart  thing  for  the  dining-room  of  to-day.  Bul- 
bous legs  with  Italian  carving,  heavy  square  stretch- 
ers low  on  the  ground,  and  draw-tops,  are  the  distin- 
guishing features.  It  is  even  suggested  by  the 
erudite  that  these  tables  are  the  last  flicker  of  the 
style  left  by  the  Romans  during  their  occupation  of 
England,  so  like  are  they  to  pictured  tables  of  Rome 
at  that  time. 

To  fix  in  the  mind  certain  important  motifs  used  in 
early  Jacobean  carving,  a  pause  may  be  made  before 
the  fine  oak  bed  pictured  in  Plate  3,  that  we  may 
discuss  them.  It  is  dated  1593,  ten  years  before 
James  I,  but,  although  Tudor,  it  has  certain  decora- 


Plate  VII— OAK  STAND  AND  MARQUETRY  CABINET 
Here  are  combined  the  Jacobean  robust  strength  and  Spanish  Moresque  detail 


EARLY  JACOBEAN  STYLES 


9 


tive  features,  the  development  of  which  was  left  to 
the  Jacobean  styles  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Note 
especially  among  these  the  characteristic  round  arch 
savouring  of  the  Norman,  of  which  two  are  shown 
on  the  bed's  head.  These  arches  frame  a  rough  inlay 
which  appears  also  on  the  square  blocks  of  the  tester. 
Holly  and  bog  oak  were  the  favourite  woods  for  this 
inlay  on  oak,  woods  obdurate  enough  to  make  the 
labour  difficult.  The  half-circle  repeat  is  used  freely 
as  a  moulding  on  the  headboard,  and  this  develops 
in  later  furniture  into  an  important  motif.  The  gen- 
eral construction  of  this  bed  is  noble  in  its  propor- 
tions, and  in  all  changes  of  fashion  must  it  stand 
with  the  dignity  of  a  temple. 

As  pictures  on  a  screen  melt  one  into  another,  so 
styles  merge.  Plate  6  shows  a  chest  full  of  Jacobean 
promise  yet  retaining  Tudor  feeling.  The  fact  that 
it  has  drawers  under  the  coffer  pronounces  it  as  a 
novelty  of  the  early  seventeenth  century,  and  there- 
fore Jacobean. 

It  especially  well  illustrates  the  pattern  for  carving 
that  occupied  workers  through  the  reign  of  James  I. 
There  is  the  Norman  arch,  low  and  wide,  set  on  short 
supports  which  have  now  lost  their  architectural  look 
of  a  column.  The  arches  at  the  ends  have  as  orna- 
ment the  guilloche,  that  line  of  circles  that  sinuously 
proceeds  through  all  that  time.  The  carving  just 
under  the  lid  shows  the  characteristic  S  curve  in  one 
of  its  many  varieties,  and  the  line  of  decoration  just 


10 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


above  the  drawers  indicates  the  development  of  the 
half-circle.  Thus  are  shown  in  this  one  early  piece 
the  principal  motifs  of  the  carvers  who  were  coaxing 
the  models  of  a  past  Renaissance  into  an  expression 
that  was  entirely  British. 

The  small  oak  cupboard  on  Plate  n  is  another 
transition  piece,  being  in  feeling  both  Tudor  and 
Jacobean.  Here  the  guilloche  is  enlarged  to  form  a 
panel  ornament,  and  the  acanthus  becomes  a  long 
fern  frond  to  ornament  the  uprights.  One  hardly 
feels,  however,  that  this  piece  was  ever  the  accom- 
paniment of  elegant  living,  although  much  antiquity 
gives  its  present  distinction. 

Continuing  with  the  low  round  arch  as  an  orna- 
ment in  the  low-relief  carving  of  James'  time,  an 
example  of  its  use  is  given  in  the  folding  gate-legged 
table  which  is  the  property  of  the  author  (Plate 
8).  The  turned  legs  finished  with  squares,  top 
and  bottom,  are  characteristic  of  the  first  quarter  of 
the  century.  The  arch  is  here  used  as  an  apron  to 
give  elegance,  and  above  is  a  drawer  carved  with 
leaves.  In  construction  this  table  presents  three 
sides  to  the  front,  as  does  the  cabinet  just  considered, 
and  its  Italian  inspiration  is  evident.  Like  all  old 
oak  of  the  time,  it  is  put  together  with  wooden  pegs, 
and  bears  the  marvellous  patine  of  time. 

Had  the  chairs  of  early  Stuart  time  not  been 
heavily  made  and  squarely  constructed  we  would  not 
have  had  so  many  examples  with  which  to  gladden 


Plate  VIII— GATE  LEG  TABLE,  FORMING  CONSOLE  WITH  GATE 

CLOSED 

The  turned  legs  with  square  bases  and  tops  indicate  date  as  early  as  1610.  The 
deep  apron  carved  with  fretted  arch  is  an  unusual  feature 


Plate  IX— OAK  CHAIRS 
Early  XVII  Century  Italian  Inspiration 


EARLY  JACOBEAN  STYLES 


11 


the  eye.  Almost  without  exception  they  are  variants 
of  the  Italian,  originality  having  not  then  appeared 
possible  to  chair  makers.  Three  of  the  four  chairs 
in  the  plates  illustrate  this  so  well  that  it  is  worth 
while  to  make  a  comparison  %with  old  Italian  chairs. 

The  chair  on  Plate  9  with  a  screscent-shaped  carv- 
ing on  the  back  had  its  first  inspiration  in  Venice,  that 
great  port  getting  the  idea  from  the  wares  of  Con- 
stantinople which  the  merchant  ships  brought  to  her 
with  prodigality.  All  of  these  chairs  are  of  the 
square  construction  that  endures,  and  all  have  bal- 
uster legs  but  of  different  styles  of  turning.  All  are 
understayed  with  honest  stretchers,  but  one  has  the 
front  stretcher  close  to  the  floor,  indicating  a  little 
earlier  mode.  The  colonnade  of  arches  forming  the 
back  is  nearer  its  Italian  origin  where  a  column  sup- 
ports the  arch  rather  than  a  bulbous  spindle. 

One  more  feature  to  note  on  these  chairs,  that  is 
common  to  both  late  Tudor  and  early  Jacobean 
styles,  is  the  decoration  of  split  spindles  or  pendants 
applied  to  a  flat  surface.  This  decoration  is  a  fa- 
vourite for  wood  panelling,  for  chests  of  drawers  and 
all  large  pieces  about  the  middle  of  the  century. 

We  have  but  to  call  to  mind  the  costume  of  Henri- 
etta Maria,  the  queen  of  Charles  I,  to  realise  why 
these  armless  chairs  were  the  most  popular  of  the 
time ;  the  voluminous  skirts  of  the  ladies  of  the  court 
— whom  others  imitated — could  not  have  been 
squeezed  into  an  arm  chair  with  courtly  grace. 


12 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


The  sort  of  room  in  which  this  furniture  was  set — 
how  happy  we  of  to-day  would  be  to  have  their  panel- 
ling! Occasionally  an  entire  room  is  taken  from 
some  old  English  home  and  set  up  in  one  of  our 
American  dwellings,  such  as  the  rooms  now  owned 
by  Mr.  Frederick  Pratt  and  Mr.  W.  R.  Hearst.  And 
thus  we  know  what  beauty  surrounded  the  English 
family  three  hundred  years  ago.  Panelling  in 
squares  covered  the  walls  from  floor  to  ceiling  or  to 
a  high  level,  above  which  hung  tapestries  or  embroid- 
eries. And  as  the  architect  of  the  house  composed 
the  panelling  it  was  drawn  with  such  skill  as  to  miss 
either  hap-hazard  or  monotony. 

The  linen-fold  panel  of  Gothic  and  early  Tudor 
popularity  was  no  longer  repeated.  The  true 
Jacobean  panel  is  small  and  square  with  carving  on 
the  pilasters  and  cornice  in  rooms  of  elegance.  To 
this  day  no  more  home-like  way  of  treating  the  walls 
of  large  rooms  has  been  devised  than  this  wood 
panelling,  which  gives  a  sense  of  seclusion  and  of 
richness  that  is  never  so  well  imparted  except  by  the 
use  of  tapestry — and  the  combination  of  the  two 
nearly  approaches  perfection. 

Jacobean  styles,  so-called,  extend  through  the 
greater  part  of  the  century,  but  each  succeeding 
Stuart  marked  his  special  progress  on  them.  The 
styles  of  the  first  kings,  James  I  and  his  son  Charles  I, 
lifted  the  family  movables  from  heaviness  to  com- 
parative lightness,  and  grew  away  from  the  Renais- 


Plate  X— OAK  CHEST  OF  DRAWERS 
interesting  example  of  the  Jacobean  use  of  decorative  mouldings 


Plate  XI— EARLY  JACOBEAN  CABINET 

Carved  and  put  together  with  wooden  pegs.    A  guilloche  carving  ornaments  each 

panel 


EARLY  JACOBEAN  STYLES 


13 


sance  in  truly  original  ways.  On  this  fact  rests 
much  of  its  interest.  The  other  great  fact  for  us  is 
that  these  years  of  the  first  Stuart  kings  were  the 
years  of  the  first  American  colonisation. 


CHAPTER  II 


JACOBEAN  STYLES  TO  CHARLES  II 

BRUTALLY  natural  we  may  call  the  earlier 
characters  in  English  history,  but  attached  to 
the  Stuart  name  there  is  always  poetic  ro- 
mance. And  without  romance  what  would  our 
lives  be!  So  when  we  sit  in  our  loved  library  or 
dining-room  at  home,  embellished  by  a  few  bits  of 
furniture  such  as  the  Stuarts  lived  among,  those  bits 
are  like  consolidated  stories,  things  to  dream  about  in 
the  hours  of  ease. 

James  I  and  his  son  Charles  cared  about  things 
they  lived  with,  and  cared,  too,  about  giving  them  as 
much  as  possible  a  certain  lightness  of  effect,  in  re- 
volt from  Tudor  bulk.  Perhaps  the  necessity  for 
surpassing  strength  was  waning.  Men  no  longer 
wore  tons  of  armour,  furniture  in  the  seventeenth 
century  no  longer  journeyed  from  castle  to  castle. 
Inigo  Jones  was  at  work  also,  with  his  marvellous 
talent  at  classical  architecture,  setting  a  standard  of 
cheerful  elegance  in  design  that  lightened  the  Tudor 
magnificence. 

When  James  I  began  to  rule  in  1603,  Inigo  Jones, 
a  lightsome  young  man  of  thirty,  was  employed  by 

14 


JACOBEAN  STYLES  TO  CHARLES  II  15 

the  King  as  a  composer  of  masques.  After  develop- 
ing his  architect's  talent  he  produced  the  palace  at 
Whitehall,  Hatfield  House  and  other  residences. 
His  also  was  the  invention  that  threw  over  the  steps 
to  the  Thames  the  noble  water-gate,  York  Stairs, 
that  stands  there  now,  a  record  of  the  merry  days 
when  ladies  and  cavaliers,  all  gay  as  flowers,  crossed 
the  greensward,  filed  under  this  richly  carved  arch, 
and  were  handed  into  elegantly  equipped  barges  on 
the  river. 

While  things  of  an  artistic  sort  were  progressing 
in  England,  other  events  closely  concerning  us  in 
America  were  also  active.  The  entire  century  runs 
two  parallel  lines  of  history,  one  that  of  the  gaiety 
of  the  house  in  power,  the  other  that  of  the  struggle 
of  the  people  divided  into  religious  sects.  While 
"  'twas  merry  in  the  Hall,  when  beards  wagged  all," 
persecution  was  rife  among  religionists,  and  the 
Puritans  were  finding  it  hard  to  stay  in  their  own 
loved  land. 

Thus  came  the  sufferers  to  America  to  plant  new 
homes;  and  thus  coming,  brought  with  them  such 
furniture  as  was  in  vogue  at  the  time  of  migrating. 
And  so  it  happens  that  our  earliest  bits  of  furniture, 
chairs  that  supported  grim  Pilgrim  fathers,  tables 
which  were  set  out  by  provident  Puritan  mothers  and 
maids,  are  Jacobean  in  mode.  The  chair  of  Elder 
Brewster  which  has  asylum  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  is  a 
fine  example  of  the  heavy  turned  work  of  the  day, 


16 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


and  numerous  oak  chairs  show  the  strap-work  and 
other  low-relief  carving  so  well  known  in  early 
Jacobean  pieces. 

One  especial  class  of  chair  (Plate  12)  when  found 
in  England  is  called  for  one  of  its  shires,  Yorkshire, 
but  when  drawn  from  New  England  hiding  places, 
we  name  it  a  wainscote  chair.  The  design  of  the 
back  easily  gives  reason  for  the  name,  for  it  is  formed 
from  a  bit  of  panelling  similar  to  that  in  vogue  for 
walls.  Stolid  and  strong  are  these  chairs,  square- 
built  and  stayed  with  four  strong  stretchers,  usually 
near  the  floor. 

The  collector  considers  the  charm  irresistibly  in- 
creased when  the  front  stretcher  is  well  worn  with 
the  friction  of  many  feet,  the  resting  feet  of  a  long 
procession  that  has  walked  down  the  centuries. 
Even  better  is  the  smoothness  of  the  chair-arms 
which  comes  by  contact  with  the  human  hand,  that 
restless  member  with  a  habit  of  idly  rubbing  an  in- 
viting surface.  Like  all  makers  of  chairs,  the  ancient 
cabinet-maker  left  back-legs  in  utilitarian  simplicity, 
while  he  limited  variety  to  the  front-legs.  In  this 
type  of  chair,  turning  gave  the  usual  ornamentation. 
This  baluster  effect  had  many  varieties,  but  all  united 
in  finishing  with  a  square  block  at  the  bottom  and 
where  the  seat-frame  met  the  leg,  or  where  the  front 
stretcher  crossed,  if  it  was  placed  high. 

The  ornamentation  of  the  back  was  done  with  the 
light  spirit  that  distinguished  early  Jacobean  styles 


Plate  XII— OAK  CHAIRS 
Called  both   Wainscote  and  Yorkshire  chairs 


Plate  XIII— SPIRAL  TURNED  CHAIR,  CHARACTERISTIC  OF  FIRST  HALF 

OF  CENTURY 


JACOBEAN  STYLES  TO  CHARLES  II  17 


from  the  preceding  Italian  models,  yet  without  the 
elegance  that  appeared  later  in  the  century.  These 
chairs  undoubtedly  have  charm  and  interest,  but  as 
works  of  art  they  are  not  comparable  to  those  which 
preceded,  nor  to  those  which  followed.  They  were, 
however,  distinctly  English,  and  as  such,  command 
interest. 

A  close  study  of  the  motifs  used  by  the  wood- 
carver  shows  all  the  favourite  lines,  the  guilloche, 
that  ever  interesting  play  upon  circles,  the  S  curve  in 
pairs,  the  rounded  arch,  the  half-circle,  the  rose  and 
the  tulip.  Cushions  were  a  part  of  the  chair's  equip- 
ment. The  tired  ladies  of  the  seventeenth  century 
were  not  asked  to  recuperate  on  a  thick  oak  plank  un- 
softened  by  padding.  Loose  cushions  of  velvet  and 
.of  embroidery  were  usual,  for  this  was  an  age  when 
handsome  fabrics  were  made  all  over  Europe,  and 
freely  used  in  flashing  blue  and  ruby  red  against  the 
oak. 

Nearly  allied  to  the  wainscote  chair,  yet  infinitely 
more  refined,  is  the  chair  of  spiral  parts,  with  back 
and  seat  upholstered.  Without  arms  it  was  favoured 
by  ladies  of  voluminous  petticoats  who  pattered  about 
the  thrones  of  James  I  and  Charles  I.  With  arms  it 
is  sometimes  called  Cromwellian,  suggesting  that  the 
doughty  Dictator  ruled  therefrom.  But  the  auster- 
ity of  the  wainscote  chair  seems  more  fitting  to  his 
resolute  manner. 

This  turned  chair  with  its  padded  back  and  seat, 


18 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


so  often  dignifies  our  modern  interiors  that  it  is  worth 
our  while  to  know  about  it.  While  the  wainscote 
chair  belonged  more  especially  to  cottage  furniture 
which  was  made  all  over  England  according  to  vary- 
ing local  taste,  this  chair  was  more  or  less  of  an 
aristocrat,  and  furnished  the  halls  of  wealth.  Its 
origin  is  Italian.  France  used  it  freely,  but  she  too 
got  her  first  model  from  the  Italians.  In  the  time 
these  chairs  prevailed,  England  outside  of  London 
was  scant  of  luxury.  The  homes  of  all  but  the 
wealthiest  were  short  of  the  comforts  that  ameliorate 
the  jolt  of  life's  car  in  these  our  modern  days. 

But  the  whole  country  was  sprinkled  with  inns  and 
taverns  wherein  were  gathered  such  luxuries  as  the 
times  afiforded,  and  thither  went  the  man  of  the 
family,  bored  by  the  too  rigid  manner  of  the  home. 
Those  who  travelled,  too,  in  the  saddle  or  by  lumber- 
ing coach,  fell  happily  into  the  warm  embrace  of  the 
chairs  at  the  hospitable  inn  at  each  stop  on  the  jour- 
ney. The  post-road  made  the  string,  the  inns  the 
pearls,  and  in  this  way  the  surface  of  England  was 
covered  with  a  net  for  the  delectation  of  the  restless. 
But  old-time  descriptions  of  the  highways,  their  ruts 
and  sloughs,  their  highwaymen  even,  show  how 
laborious  were  the  journeyings  and  how  more  than 
glad  were  travellers  to  alight. 

Ben  Jonson  declared  a  tavern  chair  to  be  the 
throne  of  human  felicity.  Thus  he  spoke  praise,  not 
only  of  the  inn  but  of  such  furniture  as  pleases  us  in 


JACOBEAN  STYLES  TO  CHARLES  II  19 


these  days.  If,  therefore,  any  husband  of  to-day 
rebel  against  the  stiffness  of  backs,  or  weakness 
of  legs,  of  the  antique  chairs  at  home,  let  him  be 
reminded  of  Jonson's  opinion  on  these  same 
chairs. 

The  chair  with  spiral  legs  and  other  members  runs 
through  the  larger  half  of  the  century,  and  has  sig- 
nificant variations.  One  shown  on  Plate  13  has  a 
female  head  on  the  uprights  of  the  arms,  which  rep- 
resents Mary  of  Modena.  The  figure  is  given  at 
full  length  in  a  model  that  our  furniture  manufac- 
turers have  many  times  repeated. 

While  baluster  legs  for  chairs  and  other  furniture 
were  a  product  of  the  reign  of  the  first  James,  we 
may  set  down  the  more  elegant  spiral  twist  as  an  evi- 
dence of  a  better  developed  taste  for  which  a  few 
leaders  were  responsible.  Such  a  man  as  Inigo 
Jones  must  have  influenced  widely  the  public  taste 
in  all  liberal  arts.  Although  his  examples  were  set 
in  the  larger  art  of  architecture,  the  crowd  swagger- 
ing about  the  Banqueting  Hall,  which  still  excites 
our  delight  at  Whitehall,  must  have  been  inspired 
to  introduce  a  daintier  style  at  home. 

It  was  in  1625  that  Charles  I  succeeded  his  father, 
and  soon  after  invited  Van  Dyck  to  be  of  those  who 
surrounded  the  royal  person.  It  sometimes  seems  to 
the  art-seeking  tourist,  that  Charles'  patronage  of  art 
had  as  motive  the  production  of  an  infinity  of  por- 
traits of  his  own  much-frizzed,  much-dressed  self. 


20 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


But  apart  from  painting  portraits  of  the  King,  which 
the  model  made  a  bit  pathetic,  through  the  attempt 
to  associate  majesty  with  preciosity,  Van  Dyck  had 
a  large  part  in  improving  England's  taste.  Another 
name  is  that  of  Sir  Francis  Crane,  he  who  helped  his 
royal  master  with  the  noble  art  of  tapestry-making  at 
the  Mortlake  Works. 

To  continue  with  the  use  of  the  spiral  leg — as  its 
modern  use  creates  interest  in  the  subject — it  is  found 
as  the  support  on  those  most  enticing  of  tables,  the 
gate-leg.  Not  that  all  gate-leg  tables  are  thus  made. 
Alas  no,  economy  travels  heavily  in  all  ages,  so  the 
less  expensive  baluster  turning  prevailed.  But  the 
spiral  is  the  favourite  and  gives  great  value  to  the  old 
tables.  Rarely  indeed  are  they  to  be  found  at  bar- 
gains since  we  in  America  have  taken  to  collecting 
Jacobean  furnishings. 

Gate-leg  tables  are  labelled  with  the  name  of  Crom- 
well by  those  liking  to  fix  a  date  by  attaching  to  it  a 
ruler.  Without  doubt,  the  great  Commoner  leaned 
his  weary  elbows  on  such  a  table  when  things  went 
wrong,  or  curved  a  smiling  lip  above  it — if  he  could 
smile — when  the  table  was  weighted  with  savoury 
Puritan  viands.  But  for  many  years  before  Crom- 
well, English  homes  had  found  the  gate-leg  table  a 
mobile  and  convenient  replacer  of  the  massive  re- 
fectory tables  of  Tudor  or  Roman  inspiration. 

In  large  size  these  tables  set  a  feast  for  the  family, 
in  smaller  drawing  they  held  the  evening  light;  or, 


Plate  XIV— OAK  CABINET,  DATED  1653 

Decorated  with  split  spindles,  and  with  inlay  mother-of-pearl,  ivory  and  ebony. 
The  legs  show  tendencies  not  developed  until  the  next  century 
under  Queen  Anne 


Plate  XV— OAK  GATE-LEG  DINING  TABLE 

With  oval  top  and  rarely  proportioned  spiral  legs.    A  drawer  distinguishes  the 

piece 


JACOBEAN  STYLES  TO  CHARLES  II  21 


smaller  yet,  they  assisted  the  house-mother  at  her 
sewing.  The  wonder  is  not  that  we  of  to-day  find 
them  invaluable,  but  that  mankind  ever  let  them  go 
out  of  fashion.  Collect  them  if  you  have  the  purse, 
but  if  you  must  buy  a  modern  copy,  remember  that 
mahogany  was  not  in  use  for  furniture  in  England 
until  the  century  after,  for  modern  manufacturers 
flout  chronology  and  produce  gate-leg  tables  in  the 
wood  of  which  the  originals  were  never  made.  They 
even  lacquer  them,  in  defiance  of  history. 

Since  the  fashion  is  for  old  tables  in  the  dining- 
room,  these  Jacobean  gate-leg  tables  are  found  prac- 
tical as  well  as  beautiful.  The  large  size,  about  four 
and  a  half  feet  wide  by  six  feet  long,  accommodates 
a  moderate  family  and  presents  none  of  the  incon- 
veniences that  make  certain  antiques  mere  objects  of 
art  or  curios.  I  must  confess  to  a  thrill  of  delight 
when  sitting  at  such  an  old  oak  board  set  out  with 
old  lace  and  silver,  not  only  for  its  obvious  beauty, 
but  by  the  thought  of  the  groups  who  have  gathered 
there  through  three  hundred  years,  groups  of  varying 
customs,  varying  habits  of  thought,  varying  fashions 
in  dress,  yet  human  like  ourselves,  and  prone  to  make 
of  the  dining-table  a  circle  of  joy. 

The  inlaid  cabinet  on  Plate  n  is  an  aristocrat. 
Though  it  is  dated  1653  it  exhibits  the  split  spindles 
of  earlier  years,  and  these  are  executed  with  such 
nice  feeling  that  they  accord  well  with  the  Italian 
look  of  the  piece.    In  truth,  its  principal  decoration 


22 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


is  Italian,  an  elaborate  use  of  inlay  in  mother  of 
pearl,  ivory  and  ebony.  Its  feet,  too,  are  entirely 
un-English,  yet  it  remains  a  Jacobean  piece  of  Eng- 
lish make.  The  influences  always  at  work  in  Eng- 
land left  their  mark  on  the  development  of  English 
styles.  Always  and  always  a  monarch  was  marry- 
ing a  foreign  wife,  or  importing  a  court  painter  or 
architect,  and  these  folk  naturally  brought  with  them 
the  fashions  of  their  own  countries.  It  seemed  as 
though  the  English  knew  that  native  art  was  not  a 
flower  of  the  first  order  of  beauty  and  so  were  modest 
about  it,  and  ever  willing  to  adopt  the  art  of  other 
countries. 

It  is  the  custom  of  the  inexact  to  include  in  Jaco- 
bean furniture  all  the  styles  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury up  to  the  time  of  William  and  Mary,  and  this 
gives  to  such  loose  classification  an  extraordinary 
variety.  Furniture  does  not  die  with  a  monarch,  nor 
do  new  designs  start  up  in  a  night;  goods  last  after 
the  master  has  gone,  and  the  new  master  uses  the  old 
style  until  a  later  one  has  been  evolved.  James  died 
and  Charles  I  took  his  place  in  the  year  1625,  but  the 
lightening  and  elaborating  of  furniture  came  not  all 
at  once,  and  depended  as  much  on  mechanical  inven- 
tion and  the  use  of  new  woods  as  on  the  rise  and  fall 
of  monarchs. 

And  yet,  as  the  first  man  to  be  pleased  was  the 
king,  and  as  the  king  in  Charles'  case  had  a  lighter 
nature  than  his  forerunners  and  had  moreover  a  Con- 


JACOBEAN  STYLES  TO  CHARLES  II  23 


tinental  encouraging  of  that  lightness,  we  fancy  we 
see  an  evidence  of  gaiety,  of  jocundity,  in  the  furni- 
ture of  his  day.  He  was  a  king  who  intended  to  take 
all  the  privileges  of  his  state,  and  one  of  these  was  to 
surround  himself  with  beauty  of  the  type  that  brought 
no  reminders  of  hard  living  nor  serious  thinking,  no 
hint  of  grim  Puritan  asceticism. 

So  the  oak  of  England  which  had  supplied  austerity 
was  now  carved  into  shapes  hitherto  unknown. 
Typical  of  the  results  of  elaborate  oak  carving  are  the 
chairs  in  Plate  17.  The  arm-chair  is  a  typical  ex- 
ample of  a  chair  of  the  middle  years  of  the  century, 
and  later.  Here  the  square  construction  of  the 
chair  is  not  altered  from  Tudor  days,  but  note  how 
every  part  has  been  lightened,  until  an  elegance  and 
beauty  have  been  attained  which  make  it  worthy  of 
the  finest  rooms  of  any  time.  The  carver  when  given 
free  rein  has  left  little  of  the  chair  untouched.  Legs, 
stretchers  and  uprights,  are  all  made  with  a  well  pro- 
portioned spiral,  and  at  each  square  of  joining  a 
rosette  is  carved. 

Here  also  is  seen  an  innovation  in  the  ornamental 
stretcher  across  the  front  which,  instead  of  being 
near  the  ground,  is  raised  to  a  height  out  of  reach  of  a 
ruthless  boot  which  might  mar  its  elaboration.  This 
stretcher  shows  the  use  of  the  long  curving  palm  in 
place  of  the  classic  acanthus,  and  also  introduces  the 
fat  little  cherubs  which  French  designers  affected. 

Other  points  to  notice  are  the  very  open  back,  com- 


24 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


posed  of  spirals  and  three  rows  of  carving.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  pierced  carving  came  into  vogue,  so 
far  surpassing  in  beauty  the  wainscote  backs. 

The  incising  of  the  seat-frame  is  another  peculi- 
arity of  the  middle  of  the  century.  Perhaps  the  most 
interesting  matter  of  all  is  the  caning.  Wooden 
seats  were  the  only  ones  hitherto ;  although  cushions 
had  been  used  to  soften  them,  they  lacked  at  best  the 
reciprocal  quality  that  we  call  "giving."  Springs 
were  far  in  the  future,  but  a  luxury-loving  aristocracy 
seized  at  once  upon  this  amelioration. 

There  is  more  or  less  quibbling  upon  the  subject  of 
caning,  as  to  the  date  of  its  introduction.  No  one  can 
fix  it  exactly,  which  robs  the  enthusiast  of  the 
pleasure  of  announcing  with  oracular  precision,  that 
his  chair  is  of  certain  year  because  of  its  caning. 
The  middle  of  the  century  saw  it,  the  first  part  did 
not,  but  it  lasted  through  varying  styles  of  furniture, 
and  is  lasting  still. 

Its  origin  is  undoubtedly  Eastern,  for  the  tenacious 
splints  from  which  it  is  woven  are  from  warmer 
climes  than  England's.  And  that  brings  us  again  to 
one  of  those  little  facts  in  history  of  which  our  house- 
hold gods  are  ever  reminding  us,  the  trade  that  united 
India  with  Portugal,  Portugal  with  Flanders,  and  the 
Flemish  with  England. 

The  small  chair  in  the  Plate  is,  to  the  careless  eye, 
a  little  sister  to  the  larger,  but  the  wise  observer  notes 
at  once  the  substitution  of  the  S  curve  heavy  in  carv- 


Plate  XVI— OAK  DAY  BEDS 
Carved  after  manner  in  vogue  in  second  half  of  XVII  Century 


JACOBEAN  STYLES  TO  CHARLES  II  25 


ing  for  the  more  elaborate  pierced  palm.  Also  the 
cane  panels  in  the  back,  and  the  very  decided  change 
in  the  shape  of  the  front  legs.  The  heavy  S  curves 
are  the  same  which  later  on  gain  in  thickness  and 
evolve  into  the  ogee  curve  seen  later,  and  which  is 
often  mistakenly  ascribed  to  William  and  Mary,  al- 
though originating  earlier  and  receives  the  name  of 
James  II.  Arbitrary  names  are  hard  to  make  con- 
sistently exact ;  dates  are  hard  to  place  on  every  piece, 
but  is  it  not  enough  to  know  within  a  very  few  years 
the  time  of  making  of  one's  valuable  antiques? 

To  finish  the  scrutiny  of  the  smaller  chair,  note  the 
curve  of  the  front  legs,  the  first  attempt  at  deserting 
the  straight  perpendicular  line  of  construction.  This 
is  the  beginning  of  an  insidious  French  influence 
which  prevailed  throughout  the  last  third  of  the  cen- 
tury. It  beautified,  of  course,  as  the  gift  of  France 
to  the  world  is  the  luxe  of  the  eye,  but  from  the  time 
of  its  introduction  dates  the  end  of  the  furniture 
which  was  of  solely  English  invention. 

So  comes  the  end  of  this  early  Jacobean  mode,  in 
its  best  time  of  flowering  when  it  was  drowned  in  a 
flood  of  foreign  influence.  It  was  in  the  styles  pre- 
vailing through  the  reigns  of  the  first  two  Stuarts 
and  of  Cromwell,  that  England  expressed  only  her- 
self in  her  furniture.  It  is  this  which  makes  the 
periods  rich  with  originality  and  of  peculiar  interest. 
When  the  Jacobean  styles  began  Shakespeare  was 
living  those  sad  years  whose  disillusion  produced  his 


26 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


later  plays,  and  Jacobean  styles  were  at  their  height 
at  the  Restoration  when  Charles  II  played  the  part 
of  king  for  his  royal  pleasure. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  CENTURY 
END  OF  THE  PURE  JACOBEAN 

TWO  matters  influenced  greatly  the  furniture 
makers  of  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  And  these  had  less  to  do  with 
kings  and  courts  than  with  humble  folk.  One  was 
the  invention  of  a  saw,  the  kind  of  a  saw  that  would 
divide  a  plank  into  as  many  thin  sheets  of  wood  as 
were  desired.  Naturally,  those  who  looked  upon 
these  thin  sheets  imagined  new  ways  of  using  them 
for  the  embellishment  of  furniture. 

Heavy  carving  had  been  almost  the  only  ornament 
when  inch-thick  planks  were  the  usual  material. 
Now,  a  wondrous  field  of  possibilities  lay  before  the 
ambitious  in  the  way  of  inlay  and  veneer.  Possibly 
Andre  Boulle  in  France  gave  the  inspiration,  but 
even  so  the  English  inlay  is  a  matter  all  by  itself. 
From  the  invention  of  that  saw  arose  a  style  of  dec- 
oration that  developed  from  such  simplicity  as  the 
rare  and  occasional  flower  seen  on  early  Jacobean 
panels,  to  the  exquisite  elaboration  known  as  the  sea- 
weed pattern,  and  other  masses  of  curving  filaments, 
which  found  highest  perfection  in  the  last  quarter  of 
the  century. 

27 


28 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


The  cabinets  on  Plates  18  and  19  illustrate  the  al- 
most unbelievable  fineness  of  the  work.  In  the 
larger  cabinet  the  inlay  is  drawn  with  a  free  hand 
and  is  less  characteristic  of  English  design  than  the 
other,  excepting  the  naivete  of  the  birds  and  trees, 
and  the  central  panel  wherein  a  gaily  caparisoned 
youth  strides  a  horse  held  by  an  infinitesimal  blacka- 
moor— a  bit  of  the  East's  submission  thus  noted. 

Wherever  a  plain  surface  was  found,  the  new 
ornament  seized  it.  Cabinets  and  chests  of  drawers 
offered  the  best  opportunities,  but  next  to  them  were 
tables.  The  tops  gave  a  fine  field — although  there 
is  always  a  lack  of  unity  of  feeling  between  a  table 
maker  and  a  table  user.  The  one  thinks  the  table 
should  be  left  inviolably  empty,  the  other  regards  it 
as  a  rest  for  books  and  bibelots.  But  there  is  also 
the  drawer  of  the  table  and  its  apron,  so  upon  these 
the  inlay  designs  were  put  in  all  their  dainty  beauty 
of  design. 

This  class  of  work  must  not  be  in  any  way  con- 
fused with  the  Dutch  inlay  of  a  later  epoch  and  which 
is  imitated  to-day  ad  nauseam.  If  you  have  naught 
else  to  guide  you  in  knowing  the  old  English  from 
modern  Dutch,  there  are  the  shapes  of  the  pieces  on 
which  the  inlay  is  put,  besides  the  pattern  of  the 
work. 

The  second  matter  which  made  a  change  in  the 
general  aspect  of  furniture  in  the  second  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century  was  the  use  of  walnut  wood  in 


Plate  XVIII— MARQUETRY  CABINET  ABOUT  1700 
Showing  Dutch  Indian  influence  in  its  design  and  ornament 


Plate  XIX— WALNUT  CABINET 

With  veneer  and  inlay  of  seaweed  pattern  showing  the  extreme  skill  of  cabinet 
workers  in  the  second  half  of  the  XVII  century. 
Drop  handles  are  noticeable 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  CENTURY 


29 


place  of  oak.  It  is  a  pretty  bit  of  history,  that  of 
the  rich-toned  walnut.  As  far  back  as  Elizabeth's 
day  furniture  of  that  wood  was  imported  from  Italy 
in  all  its  beauty  of  design,  colour  and  finish.  The 
wise  queen  ordered  trees  brought  from  Italy  and  for- 
ests planted,  that  England  might  have  a  supply  of  the 
admired  wood.  She  did  not  live  to  see  the  trees  of 
use,  but  in  the  century  following  hers,  it  came  sud- 
denly into  vogue.  Imagine  the  delight  of  those  who 
had  been  working  in  the  more  obdurate  oak,  to  feel 
this  finer,  softer  wood  under  the  tool. 

Putting  together  the  invention  of  the  saw  which 
could  slice  wood  as  thin  as  paper  as  well  as  fret  it 
into  sea-weed,  and  the  adoption  of  walnut  wood,  still 
another  type  of  beauty  in  furniture  was  produced, 
that  of  the  plain  large-panelled  scheme.  By  cunning 
skill  panels  of  walnut  veneer  were  produced  where 
the  grain  of  the  wood  supplied  the  design.  Add  to 
this  the  wonderful  finish  of  the  cabinet-maker,  and 
the  piece  had  the  beauty  of  bronze  and  the  simplicity 
of  classicism.  But  no  picture  can  give  adequate  idea 
of  the  beauty  of  the  old  burr  walnut.  Its  bronze 
surface  of  innumerable  tones,  all  polished  by.  gen- 
erations of  caressing  hands  and  never  by  varnish, 
must  be  seen  and  touched  to  be  appreciated.  The 
patine  of  time  is  heightened  by  the  patine  of  affec- 
tion, and  both  together  make  of  the  plain  walnut 
furniture  a  thing  of  appealing  beauty  to  those  who 
love  restraint  in  ornament. 


30 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


A  word  about  this  thing  we  call  patine.  It  began 
in  these  old  pieces  with  the  original  finish  of  the  old 
maker,  who,  having  done  all  of  the  work  himself,  was 
tenderly  careful  of  results.  This  early  necromancer 
played  on  the  wood  of  his  precious  meuble  with 
soothing  oil,  with  tonic  of  turpentine  and  with  pro- 
tective wax.  With  the  oil  he  fed  the  open  pores  of 
the  wood,  until  all  were  filled  against  the  attack  of 
less  judicious  nutriment,  then  with  pungent  turpen- 
tine and  fragrant  honest  wax,  he  rubbed  patiently 
the  surfaces.  No  varnish,  as  he  valued  his  art. 
Varnish  as  we  know  it  now  was  not  in  his  laboratory. 
It  was  not  needed  when  every  man  was  lavish  of  the 
labour  of  his  hand. 

Thus  was  begun  the  patine  for  which  we  collectors 
cry  to-day.  But  the  assistance  of  the  housewife  was 
a  necessary  adjunct,  for  never  through  all  the  cen- 
turies must  she  do  other  than  rub  with  oil  and  wax 
the  fine  old  oak  and  walnut.  I  have  seen  the  work 
of  centuries  destroyed  by  a  modern  vandal  with  a  can 
of  varnish. 

The  lawns  of  England  are  made  by  centuries  of 
unremitting  care.  The  patine  on  old  English  furni- 
ture is  brought  about  by  the  same  virtue.  If  there 
be  any  who  do  not  value  the  rare  old  finish,  then  for 
his  household  wares  the  manufacturers  provide  a  vat 
of  varnish  into  which  whole  sets  of  chairs  are  dipped 
to  avoid  even  the  labour  of  brushing  on  a  coat  of  the 
shiny  stuff. 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  CENTURY  31 


Roundhead  and  Cavalier  each  had  to  be  suited 
with  furniture,  so  the  varying  styles,  the  elaborate 
and  the  plain,  met  all  requirements.  In  the  midst  of 
it  all  reigned  Charles,  the  second  of  the  Stuart  kings, 
fostering  art  with  his  wondrous  assistant  Van  Dyck, 
and  making  a  thousand  mistakes  in  the  art  of  govern- 
ment, yet  ever  standing  a  romantic  figure.  We  feel 
an  interest  in  all  that  concerned  his  life  as  a  man, 
feeling  more  pity  than  indignation  at  his  futile  de- 
scent upon  Parliament  to  pluck  therefrom  the  five 
members  who  offended  him.  And  who  does  not, 
when  in  London,  glance  at  his  high-bred  marble 
effigy  at  Whitehall  with  a  secret  sympathy  for  his 
miserable  end?  We  all  love  a  gentleman,  and  time 
has  nothing  to  do  with  effacing  that.  The  elegance 
Charles  I  introduced  into  his  time  delights  us  now, 
and  we  thrill  at  the  thought  of  owning  any  of  the 
fine  accessories  with  which  he  or  his  nobles  sur- 
rounded themselves. 

After  Charles  came  the  Commonwealth.  Repub- 
lican as  we  are,  we  feel  an  unaccountable  revolt 
against  any  suggestion  of  Cromwell's  taste  in  life's 
elegant  accessories.  He  was  the  great  Commoner, 
and  as  such  has  no  skill  at  dictating  fashions  for 
aristocrats.  So  we  accord  to  him  a  leather-covered 
chair  with  spiral  turned  frame,  and  a  gate-leg  table, 
feeling  he  should  be  grateful  for  the  award,  as  even 
these  things  were  not  of  his  own  invention. 

Of  the  two  great  divisions,  the  Cavaliers  and  the 


32 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


Roundheads,  the  aristocratic  party  fell  into  subjec- 
tion, All  that  was  austere  came  to  the  fore,  and  all 
that  had  the  charm  of  gaiety  and  mirth,  elegance  and 
extravagance,  was  disapproved  by  those  in  power. 
Cromwell's  personality  did  not  inspire  the  makers  of 
pretty  kickshaws  for  my  lady's  boudoir,  nor  luxuries 
for  my  lord's  hall.  So  nothing  was  to  be  done  by  the 
cabinet-makers  but  to  repeat  the  previous  styles. 

The  asceticism  of  the  Puritan  inspired  no  art  in 
the  few  years  of  Roundhead  rule,  but  there  is  no 
telling  what  might  have  happened  had  Cromwell 
stayed  several  decades  in  power.  At  the  end  he  took 
most  kindly  to  living  in  the  royal  palace  of  Hampton 
Court.  The  quick  assumption  of  elegance  of  the 
beggar  on  horseback  is  proverbial.  After  Napoleon 
had  forgotten  his  origin,  no  king  was  more  acquisi- 
tive than  he  in  the  matter  of  thrones  and  palaces,  nor 
more  insistent  in  the  matter  of  royal  pomp.  But 
"Old  Noll"  did  not  live  to  rule  like  a  prince  of  the 
blood,  nor  to  develop  a  style  of  luxurious  living  that 
left  a  mark  on  the  liberal  arts. 

The  development  of  walnut  furniture  went  imper- 
ceptibly on,  with  oak  still  much  in  use,  when  all  at 
once  a  new  fact  in  history  gave  a  new  excuse  for 
changes  in  the  mode.  The  Cromwells  passed  and 
the  people  of  England  took  back  the  House  of  Stuart, 
and  did  it  with  such  enthusiasm  that  even  the  furni- 
ture reflected  it  at  once.  But  it  is  just  this  reflection 
of  events  in  the  art  of  a  period  that  gives  undying 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  CENTURY  33 


interest  to  old  styles,  and  especially  to  those  ancient 
pieces  that  are  left  from  the  hands  which  made  them 
and  those  who  first  used  them  in  palace  or  cottage. 

Back,  then,  came  the  old  delight  in  royally  born 
royalty,  in  being  governed  by  a  king  and  not  by  a 
commoner.  With  open  arms  the  king  was  wel- 
comed, and  Cavalier  families  that  had  been  in  sad 
plight,  blotted  out  by  confiscation  and  disapproval, 
sprang  lightly  back  to  their  former  places.  This  was 
the  time  of  the  Restoration,  that  time  when  England 
adopted  the  rottenness  of  the  Continent  to  stimulate 
whatever  of  vice  lay  in  the  Briton,  forgetting  to  take 
with  it  the  fundamental  good.  But  the  naughty 
game  was  one  so  prettily  played  that  we  never  tire 
of  its  recounting.  And  as  it  produced  so  many 
changes  in  house  furnishings,  it  must  be  considered. 

It  was  in  1660  that  Charles  II  was  called  to  smile 
from  the  throne  on  a  pleased  public.  It  was  about 
that  time  that  a  queen  was  chosen  for  him,  Catherine 
of  Braganza,  who  brought  with  her,  very  naturally, 
some  goods  of  her  own. 

The  styles  in  England  at  this  time  were  espe- 
cially England's,  he  native  effort  fred  from  copy- 
ing Italy's  Renaissance.  But  on  this  fell  a  sudden 
avalanche  of  new  ideas  greatly  at  variance  with 
her  methods,  and  from  now  on  the  styles  of  England 
took  inspiration  from  the  styles  of  the  Continent,  and 
have  ever  since  continued  the  game. 

But  let  this  sink  into  the  consciousness:  each 


34 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


style  adopted  takes  on  the  strong  characteristics  of 
the  country  adopting  them.  If  to  originate  a  decora- 
tive style  was  not  the  natural  impulse  of  Britain,  it 
was  her  talent  to  alter  that  style  in  a  way  that  ex- 
pressed her  characteristics.  In  the  time  of  Charles 
II  she  had  a  love  for  the  light  side  of  life,  coupled 
with  prodigality  and  elegance,  and  this  can  be  read 
to-day  in  the  relics  of  those  times. 

Catherine  the  Queen  brought  no  children  to  inherit 
the  throne — the  Duke  of  York  being  accused  of  hav- 
ing selected  purposefully  a  barren  mate  for  his 
brother — but  she  brought  Bombay  as  a  dower.  So, 
with  her  Portuguese  furniture  and  her  Eastern  de- 
signs, her  gifts  turned  the  heads  of  artists  and  arti- 
sans. In  England  are  found  those  chairs  for  which 
we  go  to  Portugal,  yet  they  were  made  in  England  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  high-back  straight  chair 
covered  with  carved  leather  in  both  back  and  seat, 
put  on  with  a  prodigality  of  big  nails,  and  having 
bronze  spikes  as  a  finish  to  the  uprights  of  the  back. 
The  fluted  foot  came  then,  a  sort  of  compromise  be- 
tween a  claw  and  scroll,  and  known  in  our  land  as  a 
Spanish  foot,  and  used  until  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  It  is  found  on  much  furniture  of 
early  Colonial  times  prior  to  Anne's  day. 

But  perhaps  the  first  change  in  Charles'  reign  was 
seen  on  the  chairs  of  pierced  carving  of  palm  and 
S  curve  and  cherub,  with  caned  seats  or  backs.  The 
carving  on  these  chairs  at  once  took  as  its  popular 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  CENTURY 


35 


device  the  crown,  the  crown  which  had  been  hidden 
out  of  sight  in  the  years  of  the  Commonwealth.  As 
if  to  show  the  wealth  of  affection  with  which  it  was 
welcomed,  it  was  repeated  as  many  as  five  conspicu- 
ous times  on  one  chair.  With  what  complacence 
must  Charles  have  looked  upon  this  gentle  flattery! 

For  the  Queen's  satisfaction  there  were  matters 
from  the  Near  East  in  the  way  of  ivory  and  ebony 
inlay,  carved  ebony,  introductions  of  small  black  be- 
ings into  designs,  always  in  obvious  subjection  to 
white  masters.  But  these  were  exotics  of  a  sort 
that  English  taste  preferred  to  import  rather  than 
manufacture.  Ladies  who  took  to  embroidering  af- 
fected the  Bombay  designs  and  colours. 

Charles  II  had  been  reigning  but  six  years  when 
the  Great  Fire  swept  away  uncountable  treasures  in 
the  way  of  furniture.  To  be  sure,  there  was  all  the 
rest  of  England.  But  at  that  time  London  was  prac- 
tically all  of  elegant  England.  Country  gentlemen 
had  estates  and  big  houses,  but  owing  to  the  impos- 
sibility of  transportation  on  the  always  miry,  rutted 
roads,  they  went  without  the  luxuries  of  town  life. 
So,  with  the  Great  Fire  of  London  perished  so  much 
of  old  oak  and  walnut  furniture  as  to  make  collectors 
weep  who  turn  their  thoughts  thereon. 

But  as  the  phoenix  rises  unabashed  from  the 
flames,  so  rose  the  inspirations  of  Sir  Christopher 
Wren,  Grinling  Gibbons,  and  of  minor  artists  and 
artisans.    Wren  rebuilt  the  fallen  monuments,  giving 


36 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


to  the  world  his  great  St.  Paul's,  and  a  pattern  of 
church  steeple  that  climbs  high  in  American  settle- 
ments as  well  as  all  through  London;  and  the  lesser 
workers  gave  men  new  patterns  in  beds  and  chairs 
for  repose,  and  in  tables  for  comforting  viands,  for 
games,  or  for  the  gossip  which  was  a  deep  game  of 
the  day. 


CHAPTER  IV 


CAROLEAN  STYLES  OR  THE  RESTORATION 
CHARLES  II,    1660  TO  1685 

IF  it  was  to  the  Queen  of  Charles  II  that  the 
Carolean  period  of  furniture  owed  its  Portu- 
guese strain  and  the  evidence  of  strange  things 
from  the  East,  it  was  from  a  woman  of  quite  another 
sort  that  the  predominating  influence  came.  French 
styles  were  the  vogue  at  court,  not  because  the 
Queen,  poor  dull  woman,  wished  it,  but  because 
Louise  de  Querouailles  was  the  strong  influence,  and 
with  her  advent  came  follies  and  fashions  enough  to 
please  the  light  side  of  one  of  the  lightest  of  mon- 
archs.  France,  in  the  person  of  Louis  XIV,  felt  that 
England  would  bear  watching  while  a  Stuart  strut- 
ted and  flirted,  oppressed  and  vacillated.  And  the 
French  ways  of  those  days  being  directed  by  such 
craft  as  that  of  the  astute  Cardinal  Mazarin,  a 
woman  was  sent  from  France  to  charm  the  King  and 
stay  closer  beside  the  throne  than  any  man  could  bide. 

Charles  created  the  light  and  lovely  Louise  the 
Duchess  of  Portsmouth  and  the  mother  of  the  little 
Duke  of  Richmond;  and,  that  so  much  of  extrava- 
gant beauty  might  be  royally  housed,  he  spent  much 

37 


38 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


time  and  more  money  in  fitting  her  apartments  at 
Whitehall.  Three  times  were  they  demolished  at 
her  whim,  the  extravagant  fittings  failing  to  suit  her 
insatiable  caprice. 

Such  procedure  was  hotly  stimulating  to  artists 
and  artisans.  In  the  first  attempt  they  sought  to 
produce  their  best,  but  seeing  it  displease,  they  were 
lashed  on  to  more  and  yet  more  subtle  effort  until  at 
last  the  pretty  lady  of  too  much  power  had  forced 
the  production  of  elegant  new  styles  which  smacked 
of  her  native  France.  Thus  went  by  the  board  the 
efforts  of  English  styles  to  remain  English,  and  thus 
began  that  long  habit  of  keeping  an  eye  on  French 
designs. 

We  think  of  Charles  II  as  a  figure-head  of  ro- 
mance, because  the  rosy  mist  of  poetic  fancy  clings 
to  the  members  of  the  Stuart  family  from  Mary  of 
Scots  down  to — but  not  including — that  Duke  of 
York  who  minced  about  the  throne  of  Charles  II 
with  his  soul  concentrated  on  securing  from  his 
brother  his  own  personal  advancement. 

The  horrors  of  Charles'  reign,  the  Bloody  As- 
sizes, the  Monmouth  incident,  his  neglect  to  recog- 
nise the  seriousness  of  his  responsibilities,  all  these 
things  are  lost  in  the  elegant  frivolity  of  the  life  led 
at  his  court.  Cares,  ennuis,  tragedies,  were  flicked 
aside  by  white  hands  thrust  from  brocades  and  lace, 
and  a  merry  measure  was  the  antidote  for  soul-sick- 
ness. 


CAROLEAN  STYLES  OR  THE  RESTORATION  39 


Those  who  made  music  or  danced  to  it,  those  who 
rhymed  (the  naughtier  the  better)  and  sang  their 
verses,  those  who  led  at  toasts  and  feasting,  those 
who  wore  the  richest  dress,  were  the  persons  of  im- 
portance under  the  patronage  of  Charles  II,  in  the 
time  of  the  Restoration. 

Nell  Gwynn,  she  of  the  quick  smile  and  quick  tear, 
and  vulnerable  heart,  was  of  the  King's  favour  to  the 
extent  of  honouring  him  with  the  little  Duke  of  St. 
Albans;  and  on  her  Charles  lavished  accessories  of 
elegant  living  similar  to  those  he  bestowed  on 
Louise  de  Querouailles.  The  bewitching  actress 
lived  her  quickly  changing  moods  among  the  furni- 
ture that  now  graces  our  modern  rooms  here  on  this 
side  of  the  water. 

We  were  not  importing  many  of  those  elegances 
in  1664.  That  was  the  date  when  Charles'  brother 
James,  Duke  of  York,  left  the  luxurious  court  at 
London  and  came  to  give  royal  dignity  to  the  little 
American  town  of  New  Amsterdam  on  the  day  when 
its  Dutch  dominion  ended  and  the  city  was  re- 
christened  New  York. 

While  considering  the  fascinating  women  of  the 
court,  Hortensia  Mancini,  for  whom  beautiful  fur- 
nishings were  made,  must  stand  as  the  most  al- 
luring of  them  all  because  she  ever  eludes  the  critic 
or  dissector.  Somewhat  of  her  uncle  Cardinal 
Mazarin  was  in  her  astute  secretiveness,  but  a  baf- 
fling quality  all  her  own  made  her  proof  against  sur- 


40 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


rendering  her  soul  to  any  man's  probing  or  to  any 
man's  charm.  So  rich  she  was  that  money  could  not 
tempt;  so  clever,  with  Italian  wit  added  to  Italian 
culture,  that  none  could  surpass  her  in  repartee  or 
discourse;  so  full  of  mystery  was  her  dark  and 
piquant  beauty  that  all  might  envy  her — yet  so  pas- 
sionately unhappy,  that  none  would  wish  to  exchange 
with  her. 

Add  to  the  list  of  women  Barbara  Palmer,  Duch- 
ess of  Cleveland,  who  represented  a  heavy  voluptu- 
ousness and  a  prolific  motherhood  for  the  King,  and 
we  see  the  women  favoured  by  the  King's  artisans, 
and  for  whom  the  beautiful  furnishings  of  the  time 
were  produced. 

Though  Charles  II  had  no  royal  factories  such  as 
Louis  XIV  was  conducting  in  France,  plenty  of  rich 
objects  of  art  were  yielded  by  the  workers.  That 
astonishing  aberration  of  taste,  silver  furniture,  had 
a  vogue  at  this  time,  the  King  considering  his  fa- 
vourite worthy  of  such  extravagance.  It  must  have 
been  ugly  by  its  inappropriateness,  however  pretty 
was  the  woman  it  served. 

Louise  de  Querouailles  had  hers  set  in  a  room 
lined  all  with  mirror  glass,  which  at  that  time  was  an 
expensive  novelty.  But  it  pleased  the  King  to  wan- 
der into  the  apartment  of  his  favourite  satellite  and 
see  the  lovely  image  of  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth 
sitting  among  her  silver  movables,  reflected  so  many 
times  in  the  walls  that  the  world  seemed  peopled  only 


CAROLEAN  STYLES  OR  THE  RESTORATION  41 


with  adorable  women.  Nell  Gwynn  also  had  her 
mirror  room. 

It  was  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  who  made  the 
mirror-lined  room  possible  by  establishing  a  factory 
for  mirrors.  Previous  to  this  time  they  were  ex- 
ceeding rare  in  England.  Now  a  leaf  was  taken 
from  Italy's  books  and  mirrors  were  made  at  home, 
with  bevelled  edges,  and  also  with  bright  blue  glass 
framing,  inside  the  wooden  frame. 

Grinling  Gibbons  was  at  work  on  his  carvings  and 
inventions,  and  we  have  record  of  him  as  a  decorator 
in  a  letter  in  which  he  tells  his  lady  client:  "I  holp 
all  things  will  please  you."  It  was  the  year  after 
the  Great  Fire,  1667,  that  Gibbons  began  to  make  a 
feature  of  the  garlands  and  swags  of  flowers  and 
fruit,  carved  with  excessive  exuberance,  that  are  as- 
sociated with  his  name  and  that  of  Queen  Anne  in 
decoration.  To  gain  his  effects  he  used  the  fine  soft 
limewood  as  yielding  to  his  tool  almost  like  a  plastic 
stuff. 

In  social  England  Bath  played  an  important  part, 
and  thither  went  for  new  scenes  the  merry  gossiping 
crowd  for  their  routs  and  aristocratic  carousing. 
This  was  the  time  of  the  sedan-chair,  of  the  dropped 
note,  the  flirted  handkerchief,  the  raised  eyebrow 
and  the  quick  eye-flash,  all  full  of  poignant  meanings 
of  their  own.  Life  was  a  pretty  game,  insistently  a 
pretty  one,  and  following  the  mode,  its  accessories 
were  pretty.    At  Bath  the  same  elegant  crowd 


42 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


played  as  in  London,  transferred  by  shockingly 
primitive  coaches  over  outrageously  rutted  roads. 
The  wonder  is  they  ever  cared  to  undertake  such 
hardships  as  those  imposed  on  travellers  in  England 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  But  at  Bath  we  see 
them,  at  the  famous  spas,  with  Nell  Gwynn,  way- 
ward and  ardent,  charming  the  men,  slighted  by  the 
women. 

To  be  specific  about  the  furniture  styles  of  the 
times  is  satisfactory  to  the  student,  to  the  desired 
end  that  old  pieces  may  be  known  from  imitation, 
and  that  good  adaptations  may  be  distinguished  from 
bad.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that  lightness  con- 
tinued to  be  the  ideal  in  construction,  particularly  in 
chairs  and  tables,  and  that  carvings  grew  ever  finer 
in  workmanship.  Chair  backs  also  grew  narrower 
and  higher.  Caning  was  retained,  but  seats  were 
covered  with  a  squab  cushion,  or  upholstered.  A 
minute  examination  of  the  chairs  on  Plate  21  leads 
to  the  detection  of  certain  characteristics.  This 
Plate  shows  a  particularly  good  example  of  the 
chairs  as  they  depart  from  the  fashion  which  pre- 
vailed immediately  before  the  Fire,  and  as  they 
merged  into  the  style  of  William  and  Mary. 

These  chairs  have  details  in  common  with  chairs 
that  preceded  them,  but  as  a  whole,  they  are  entirely 
different.  They  do  not  tell  the  same  story,  convey 
the  same  message,  as  the  chairs  of  Charles  I,  for 
example.    And  that  shows  the  subtle  power  of  fur- 


Plate  XXI— CHARLES  II  CHAIRS  OF  VARYING  STYLES  IN  CARVING 


CAROLEAN  STYLES  OR  THE  RESTORATION  43 


niture  to  express  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  which  it 
was  made.  "Feeling"  is  a  word  for  the  serious  col- 
lector. Ability  to  read  feeling  amounts  almost  to  a 
talent,  and  is  certainly  an  instinct.  Those  who  pos- 
sess it  know  without  recourse  to  detail  where  to  place 
a  piece  of  furniture  never  encountered  before,  and 
this  even  though  it  be  one  of  those  erratic  pieces  that 
appear  in  all  periods.  The  feeling,  then,  of  these 
chairs  is  French,  but  a  transplanted  French,  growing 
under  alien  influence. 

Descending  upon  details,  the  shape  of  the  legs  is 
so  much  at  variance  with  those  of  the  preceding  fash- 
ion that  they  seem  to  alter  the  scheme  of  construc- 
tion. By  means  of  the  change  from  a  straight  line 
to  a  curve  the  chair  loses  in  honesty  and  in  balance 
while  growing  in  elegance. 

Another  point  to  notice  is  the  change  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  stretchers,  also  the  lifting  from  the 
floor  of  the  elaborate  front  stretcher  which  is  made 
to  match  the  ornamental  top  of  the  chair  back.  The 
seat-frame  retains  the  incising  of  the  former  fashion, 
and  the  square  blocks  at  points  of  intersection  carry 
the  familiar  carved  rosette.  The  backs  have  strong 
points  of  interest.  The  radical  change  is  in  the  up- 
rights, which,  instead  of  being  wide,  flat  carvings  of 
leafage,  are  gracefully  designed  posts.  A  long  step 
in  the  way  of  beauty  was  made  when  this  style  of 
back  was  adopted,  a  treatment  which  developed  later 
in  the  century  into  the  exquisite  carved  backs,  which 


44 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


even  exceeded  the  French  in  graceful  invention.  An 
examination  of  the  chairs  of  1685  will  show  the  per- 
fection of  the  style  which  was  begun  by  Charles  II, 
adopted  by  James  II  and  further  developed  under 
William  and  Mary. 

To  continue  the  lesson  of  the  chairs,  it  was  here 
that  the  old  flat  S  curve  began  to  alter  into  the  richer, 
more  robust  C  curve.  The  leg  of  chairs  carved  in  C 
scrolls  follows  the  shape  of  the  curves,  and  furniture 
of  this  pattern  has  exceeding  charm,  especially  when 
the  front  stretcher  has  been  treated  by  an  inspired 
hand.  Much  sought  are  the  chairs  and  sofas  of  this 
period,  and  when  covered  with  needle-point  are 
keenly  valued  for  use  in  the  superb  living-room 
which  in  modern  homes  often  takes  place  of  the 
drawing-room. 

Happy  indeed  is  the  collector  who  can  find  such  an 
old  English  sofa  as  that  in  the  Metropolitan  Mu- 
seum on  Plate  22.  It  is  entirely  characteristic,  and 
shows  not  only  the  interesting  fashion  in  carving,  but 
the  large  advance  in  upholstering.  Such  comfort- 
able work  was  unknown  before  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.  If  we  have  curiosity  as  to  the  appearance  of  the 
gentlefolk  who  used  such  furniture,  the  embroidered 
cover  of  this  piece  shows  lovely  woman  in  her  hours 
of  ease,  and  mankind  hovering  near  with  a  wish  to 
please.  But  this  very  embroidery  shows  how  diffi- 
cult a  matter  it  was  for  the  English  to  draw  with 
true  hand  and  free,  a  purely  decorative  motive;  for, 


x> 
B 


< 
fa 
O 
in 

H 

D 


X 
X 


u 


Plate  XXIII— GILT  MIRROR,  TIME  OF  CHARLES  II 
When  mirrors  were  freely  made  in  England 


CAROLEAN  STYLES  OR  THE  RESTORATION  45 


outside  the  figures  of  the  medallions,  the  whole  thing 
is  meaningless  and  without  consistency. 

For  a  clue  to  the  inspiration  of  English  work  in 
the  last  quarter  of  the  century,  which  embraces  that 
of  Charles'  reign,  that  of  James  II  and  of  William 
and  Mary,  it  is  advisable  to  turn  a  keen  eye  on  the 
artistic  and  political  actions  of  France.  The  Great 
Louis  was  on  the  throne,  and  the  great  Le  Brun  was 
the  leader  in  the  decorative  art  of  the  day. 

One  of  the  political  mistakes  of  Louis  XIV  was 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  that  edict 
which  had  protected  from  persecution  so  large  a 
number  of  Protestant  workers  in  the  liberal  arts. 
Among  these  people  were  tapestry  weavers,  silk 
weavers,  glass  workers,  wood  carvers,  members  of 
all  the  crafts  that  contribute  to  the  beauty  of  the 
home.  Eventually  they  came  to  England  for  safe 
haven. 

It  is  impossible  to  over-estimate  the  benefit  to  Eng- 
land in  an  aesthetic  way  of  the  advent  of  all  these 
skilled  workers,  men  whose  equal  were  to  be  found 
in  no  other  country.  Louis  XIV  had  made  a  royal 
hobby  of  exquisite  furnishings.  He  had  placed  their 
manufacture  among  the  royal  pleasures  and  also 
among  the  state  duties.  He  had  glorified  the  art  of 
furnishing  as  it  had  never  before  been  done,  by  the 
magnificent  institution  of  the  Gobelins  factory. 
Here  men  learned  their  craft — an  infinite  variety  of 
crafts — and  achieved  perfection.    All  at  once  many 


46 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


of  these  workers  were  forced  to  flee  or  meet  death 
tinder  the  new  dictum  of  the  King.  And  thus  Eng- 
land received  the  outcasts  to  her  own  enrichment. 

One  of  the  industries  in  which  England  was  behind 
the  Continent  was  the  manufacture  of  silk.  The 
French  refugees  were  soon  established  in  London  at 
Spitalfields,  reproducing  the  magic  weaves  they  had 
formerly  made  for  the  imperious  pleasure  of  the 
royal  favourites  in  France.  Satins,  brocades,  taf- 
fetas of  wondrous  dye  and  lustre,  flowed  from  the 
looms  of  the  able  weavers  who  thus  drowned  their 
nostalgia  in  excess  of  a  loved  and  familiar  occupa- 
tion. 

One  result  of  this  mass  of  beautiful  material  being 
thrown  to  a  delighted  public,  was  the  change  made 
in  the  fashion  of  interior  wall-treatment.  The  beau- 
tiful oak  panelling  of  other  days  oppressed  with  its 
seriousness  the  light  mood  of  Charles  II  and  his  light 
companions.  The  gay  sheen  of  silk  was  more  sym- 
pathetic and  enlivening.  On  the  walls,  then,  went 
the  silk.  In  Anne's  time  the  panels  grew  larger,  then 
became  a  wainscot  and  sank  to  the  height  of  a  man's 
bewigged  and  capricious  head;  then  lowered  to  a 
chair's  height  for  the  Georgian  era.  And  above 
flowed  the  gracious  lines  of  silken  fabrics  concealing 
all  the  walls,  made  in  Spitalfields  by  the  French 
refugees  and  their  followers. 

The  pretty  Duchess  of  Portsmouth  had  her  rooms 
hung  with  silk  and  with  wondrous  tapestries  from 


CAROLEAN  STYLES  OR  THE  RESTORATION  47 


France,  though  England  made  both  silks  and  tapes- 
tries. Beds  of  the  day  retained  the  high  posts  and 
tester  or  canopy,  heavily  draped,  and  the  bed  was 
similarly  covered.  The  bed  was  carved,  even  to  the 
tester,  in  French  inspiration,  and  was  elegant  indeed. 
In  such  a  bed  came  the  King  at  last  to  lie  in  mortal 
illness  in  the  palace  at  Whitehall,  where  the  lovely 
Louise  had  first  place  by  the  royal  invalid,  while  the 
Queen  was  treated  as  a  negligible  quantity.  The 
Duchess  of  Cleveland,  that  other  favourite,  was  not 
far  in  the  background,  and  the  King  in  his  last  hours 
remembered  still  another  when  he  implored :  "Don't 
let  poor  Nell  starve." 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  END  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 
WILLIAM  AND  MARY.    1 689-1 702 


HE  style  named  for  William  and  Mary  em- 


braces all  the  changes  that  occurred  from 


late  Carolean  days  until  the  time  of  Anne, 
and  even  includes  some  of  the  models  and  details  that 
are  given  the  name  of  that  queen.  Dutch  influence 
comes  largely  into  both,  but  was  stronger  in  the  style 
known  as  Queen  Anne's.  Mixed  up  with  other  in- 
fluences were  those  not  only  of  Holland  but  of  the 
countries  with  which  her  political  life  was  concerned. 
Spain  contributed  certain  details,  and  as  for  the 
Dutch  connections  with  the  Near  and  the  Far  East, 
they  supplied  an  infinity  of  inspiration. 

Nothing  more  piquant  to  the  decorative  spirit 
could  be  imagined  than  the  fantastic  motifs  of  Indian 
and  Chinese  importation.  To  us,  surfeited  as  we  are 
from  babyhood  with  Chinese  toys  and  Indian  stuffs, 
it  is  hard  to  look  upon  these  things  as  startling  novel- 
ties. But  in  those  days  of  less  travel  they  were 
delicious  exotics.  Among  persons  of  fashion,  there 
was  a  rage  for  the  living  evidences  of  the  strange 
East,  and  more  than  popular  as  pets  in  the  drawing- 


48 


Plate  XXIV— INTERESTING  CHAIR  TRANSITIONAL  BETWEEN  STUART 
STYLES  AND  WILLIAM  AND  MARY 


CHAIRS  IN  VARIANTS  OF  WILLIAM  AND  MARY 
Covered  with  petit  point  of  the  time 


WILLIAM  AND  MARY  CANED  CHAIRS,  ONE  WITH  FLUTED  SPANISH 

FOOT 

Plate  XXV 


END  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  49 


room  became  the  exotic  monkey  and  the  vivid  parrot. 
If  these  creatures,  leashed  to  a  standard,  could  be 
tended  by  a  tiny  black  human,  then  fashion  was 
pleased  to  an  infantine  joyousness. 

Every  ship  that  came  in  from  far  Eastern  coun- 
tries brought  wise  parrots  and  tiny  frisking  mon- 
keys, and  these  were  valued  by  decorative  artists 
for  models,  as  well  as  by  my  lady  to  pique  gay  con- 
versation in  her  drawing-room. 

William  and  Mary  styles,  like  all  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  are  at  present  in  high  vogue  in 
America,  and  for  this  reason  it  interests  us  to  study 
them.  They  come  in  after  the  use  of  oak  has  passed 
its  vogue,  and  when  walnut  prevails,  although  woods 
of  lighter  colour,  such  as  pearwood  and  sycamore, 
are  employed.  In  chairs  and  sofas,  carving  prevails 
as  decoration;  but  in  cabinets  and  tables,  the  prefer- 
ence is  for  veneer  and  for  inlay. 

At  this  time  occurs  a  change  in  the  style  of  cabi- 
nets. Hitherto  they  had  been  closed  cupboards; 
now,  because  of  the  fashion  for  collecting  Delft 
china  from  Holland,  a  need  came  for  cabinets  that 
would  display  the  collector's  treasure.  As  furniture 
makers  ever  express  the  whims  and  needs  of  the  day, 
so  they  at  once  invented  the  cabinet  with  shelf-top 
protected  by  glass.  A  feature  of  the  design  is  the 
hooded  top,  so  characteristic  of  William  and  Mary. 

Two  types  of  carving  prevailed  in  chairs  in  the 
last  twenty  years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  that  of 


50 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


the  broken  C  curve,  originating  under  Charles  II, 
and  that  of  great  elaboration  which  in  some  respects 
caught  its  details  from  the  French.  A  study  of  the 
plates  will  show  that  the  post-like  upright  which 
flanks  the  back  is  retained  in  both  cases.  Examples 
of  fine  carving  under  William  and  Mary  show  the 
free  fancy  of  the  designer  and  the  skill  of  the  worker 
who  was  possibly  the  designer  as  well.  But  the 
original  chairs  must  be  seen  to  gain  any  idea  of  the 
beauty  of  colour  and  finish.  The  whole  bears  the 
look  of  bronze  that  has  been  polished  with  caressing 
hands  for  centuries. 

The  shape  of  the  leg  in  these  finely  carved  chairs  is 
to  be  noticed,  as  it  is  fathered  by  the  chair-leg  in 
vogue  under  Louis  XIV  in  France,  and  in  slight 
variations  it  prevails  all  through  the  William  and 
Mary  period.  It  is  noticeable  by  a  pear-shaped  en- 
largement near  the  top.  The  Spanish  foot  is  often 
seen  on  this  style. 

Petit  point,  gros  point,  or  mere  cross-stitch  em- 
broidery you  may  call  it,  was  a  fashionable  occupa- 
tion for  dame  and  damsel.  In  Charles  ITs  time  the 
stuffed  high-relief  stump  work  pleased  the  court. 
Sorry  stuff  it  looks  now,  much  like  the  court  ladies 
of  that  time,  in  that  its  colour  and  gilt  are  gone  and 
its  false  art  is  pitifully  exposed.  But  the  good  hon- 
est embroidery  in  wool  and  silk  still  stands,  and  is 
again  tremendously  in  vogue. 

It  was  Madame  de  Maintenqn  who  gave  such  in- 


Plate  XXVI— CHEST  OF  DRAWERS  IN  BURR  WALNUT  VENEER 
Mounted  on  legs,  used  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  XVII  century 


Plate  XXVII— SMALL  WALNUT  TABLE 

With  spiral  legs  and  inlay.    Here  is  seen  the  beginning  of  the  flat  serpentir 

stretcher 


END  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  51 


spiration  to  the  work  in  France  that  England  copied. 
Her  school  at  St.  Cyr,  which  she  conducted  solely  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  happiness  and  education  to 
penniless  daughters  of  fallen  aristocrats,  at  that 
school  the  young  girls  executed  work  that  ranks  with 
objects  of  art.  A  well-known  American  collector 
has  a  large  sofa  executed  thus  under  the  hand  of 
Madame  de  Maintenon  which  represents  scenes  from 
a  play  of  Moliere's,  the  piece  having  also  been  given 
by  these  same  young  girls,  then  the  cartoons  drawn 
by  an  artist  of  high  talent. 

So  petit  point  was  almost  a  high  art  in  France  in 
the  time  of  William  and  Mary,  and  England  did  her 
best  to  follow  the  fine  pattern  set  her.  If,  in  judging 
whether  this  work  be  French  or  English,  the  mind 
hesitates,  it  is  well  to  take  the  eye  from  the  medal- 
lions and  study  how  the  designer  filled  the  big  field 
outside.  In  French  drawing  the  whole  is  a  harmoni- 
ous composition;  in  the  English,  the  hand  is  crude 
and  uncertain,  and  the  motifs  meaningless,  though 
bold,  without  coherence  or  co-ordination.  Nowa- 
days the  lady  who  wishes  to  embroider  a  chair  gets 
from  Paris  a  medallion  already  complete  and  fills  in 
the  surrounding  territory  at  her  pleasure.  It  would 
seem  that  the  ladies  in  England  did  the  same  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  but  with  less  taste. 

Among  minor  points  of  interest,  those  little  points 
used  by  the  amateur  in  identifying,  is  the  marked 
change  in  the  stretcher.    Away  back  in  the  begin- 


52 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


ning  of  the  century,  as  seen  on  chairs  and  tables,  it 
was  heavy,  made  of  square  three-  or  four-inch  oak, 
and  placed  almost  on  the  ground.  The  first  change 
was  in  using  thinner  wood;  the  next  was  in  giving 
the  stretcher  a  look  of  ornamental  lightness  by  turn- 
ing. When  this  happened  the  front  stretcher  of 
chairs  was  lifted  from  the  ground  to  spare  it  the 
heavy  wear  apparent  in  older  pieces.  When  carving 
attacked  the  stretcher,  then  it  was  placed  well  out  of 
the  way  of  harm,  and  it  took  on  the  ornamental  effect 
of  the  chair's  back.  The  Portuguese  style  of 
stretcher  copied  closely  the  carving  on  the  top  of  the 
back  in  graceful  curves. 

It  was  when  the  larger  pieces  of  furniture  took  on 
a  certain  lightness  of  effect  that  a  change  in  their 
stretchers  occurred,  and  this  was  in  the  period  of 
William  and  Mary.  The  stretcher  became  wide,  flat 
and  serpentine.  In  chairs  it  wandered  diagonally 
from  the  legs,  meeting  in  the  centre.  In  tables  its 
shape  was  regulated  by  the  size  of  the  table  top.  In 
chests  of  drawers  it  wavered  from  leg  to  leg  of  the 
six  which  like  short  posts  supported  the  weight.  If 
the  piece  of  furniture  was  inlaid  these  flat  stretchers 
offered  fine  opportunity  for  continuing  the  work. 

Strangely  enough  the  stretcher,  in  chairs  at  least, 
disappeared  at  just  the  time  it  was  most  needed. 
That  was  at  the  introduction  of  the  curved  or  cabri- 
ole leg,  in  the  early  days  of  Queen  Anne.  Those 
who  know  by  experience  how  frail  the  curve  makes 


Plate  XXVIII— CARVED  CHAIRS.    PERIOD  OF  WILLIAM  AND  MARY 
With  all  the  fine  characteristics  of  the  carved  designs  of  the  time 


Plate  XXIX— WALNUT  CHAIRS,  WILLIAM  AND  MARY 
With  the  exquisitely  carved  backs,  stretches  and  legs  characteristic  of  the  time 


END  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  53 


this  sort  of  construction,  sigh  with  regret  that  the 
fine  old  Queen  Anne  pieces  of  their  collection  cannot 
be  consistently  stayed  according  to  the  older  method. 

It  was  in  the  interesting  time  of  William  and  Mary 
that  the  kneehole  desk  made  its  appearance.  A  cer- 
tain enchanting  clumsiness  marks  these  desks  from 
later  products  on  the  same  line,  and  a  decided  flavour 
of  Chinese  construction.  Such  a  desk  was  recently 
rooted  out  of  the  dark  in  an  obscure  Connecticut 
town,  it  having  been  brought  over  in  the  early  days, 
and,  not  being  mahogany,  has  lain  despised  by  local 
dealers  until  one  more  "knowledgeable"  than  his  fel- 
lows discovered  that  it  was  Elizabethan ! 

A  contribution  made  by  China  was  the  art  of  lac- 
quering. Although  it  was  not  in  the  fulness  of  its 
vogue  until  the  century  had  turned  the  corner  in 
Queen  Anne's  reign,  it  had  its  beginnings  in  the 
earlier  importations  of  lacquer  and  the  desire  of  the 
cabinet-makers  to  imitate  the  imported  art. 

Varnish  as  we  know  it  had  never  been  in  use,  else 
had  we  missed  the  wonderful  hand  polish  on  old  oak 
and  walnut  that  cannot  be  imitated.  And  when  it 
appeared  it  was  only  to  use  it  in  the  Chinese  manner, 
as  a  thick  lacquer  over  painted  or  relief  ornament. 
As  the  art  of  lacquering  grew,  cabinets  of  great  elab- 
oration became  fashionable,  and  these  were  in  many 
cases  imported  from  China  as  the  cunning  handicraft 
of  the  Chinese  exceeded  that  of  the  English  in  mak- 
ing tiny  drawers  and  tea-box  effects.    Then  these 


54 


JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 


pieces  were  sent  to  England  where  they  were  painted 
and  lacquered  by  ladies  as  a  fashionable  pastime,  and 
were  set  on  elaborate  carved  stands  of  gilt  in  a  style 
savouring  more  of  Grinling  Gibbons  than  of  China, 
— which  is  the  true  accounting  of  the  puzzling  com- 
bination of  lacquer  and  gold  carving. 

The  metal  mounts  or  hardware  of  furniture 
throughout  the  seventeenth  century  was  simple  be- 
yond necessity,  yet  this  simplicity  has  its  charm.  In 
earliest  days,  iron  locks  and  hinges  of  a  Gothic  pru- 
dence as  to  size  and  invulnerability,  ushered  in  the 
century,  but  it  was  still  the  time  of  Shakespeare,  and 
that  time  threw  a  glance  back  to  the  Gothic  just  left 
behind. 

Knobs  were  needed  as  drawers  appeared,  and  these 
were  conveniently  and  logically  made  of  wood,  and 
were  cut  in  facets  like  a  diamond.  But  the  prevail- 
ing metal  mount  for  the  rest  of  the  century  was  the 
little  drop  handle  that  resembles  nothing  so  much  as 
a  lady's  long  earring.  It  is  found  on  old  Jacobean 
cabinets,  side-tables,  and  all  pieces  having  drawers 
and  cupboards.  Its  origin  is  old  Spanish,  and  that 
smacks  always  of  Moorish.  With  unusual  fidelity 
this  little  drop  handle  clung  until  under  Queen  Anne 
(1703)  the  fashion  changed  to  the  wide  ornamental 
plate  with  looplike  handle,  and  that  in  turn  served, 
with  but  slight  variations,  throughout  the  century. 

In  summing  up  the  seventeenth  century  as  a 
whole,  it  seems  to  show  a  British  and  insular  attempt 


QUEEN  ANNE  SINGLE  CHAIR 

Made  of  walnut  with  carved  motives 
gilded.  This  type  of  chair  shows  the 
strong  effect  of  Chinese  motifs,  espe- 
cially on  the  legs. 


QUEEN  ANNE  ARM  CHAIR 

Upholstered   in   gros   point   with  splat 
black,  and  Dutch  shell  on  curved  legs. 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New 
York 


WALNUT  QUEEN  ANNE  CHAIRS 

With  carbriole  leg  and  claw  and  ball  foot  adapted  from  Chinese  Spanish  leather 
set  on  with  innumerable   nails  elegantly  covers  the  taller.  These 
chairs  foreshadow  the  Georgian  styles 


Plate  XXX 


Plate  XXXI— QUEEN  ANNE  CHAIR 
ith  marquetry  back  and  carved  cabriole  leg  with  hoof  and  serpentine  stretcher 
Courtesy  of  P.  IV.  French 


END  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  55 


to  form  its  own  styles,  to  dress  its  homes  and  palaces 
in  a  British  way,  regardless  of  what  the  world  else- 
where was  doing.  Bits  of  outside  product  came 
drifting  across  the  Channel,  but  these  were  not 
treated  with  too  great  seriousness.  They  were  never 
adopted  intact  with  all  the  feeling  of  foreign  thought 
shining  from  their  elegant  surfaces,  but  rather  were 
cut  apart  and  certain  bits  were  used  to  tack  onto  the 
more  British  work.  And  it  is  just  here  that  is  found 
the  secret  of  the  charm  which  lies  in  old  English 
furniture.  It  is  the  endeavour  of  England  to  tell  her 
own  story,  and  her  story  is  necessarily  different  from 
that  of  France,  Portugal,  Spain,  Holland,  the  East. 
So,  although  she  borrows  motifs  from  foreign  lands, 
it  is  only  to  indicate  her  historical  connection  with 
them  and  not  to  make  a  witless  copy  of  their  wares. 

This  holds  true  even  at  the  time  when  two  great 
artists  dominated  the  decorative  arts  in  Europe,  Ru- 
bens and  Le  Brun,  and  that  decorative  monarch, 
Louis  XIV,  ruled  art  as  well  as  politics.  Yet  the 
insularity  of  England  kept  her,  happily,  from  realis- 
ing the  fine  flowering  of  French  art  to  imitate  it,  and, 
instead,  she  expressed  her  own  sturdy  characteristic 
development. 

And  so  we  love  the  evidences  of  sincerity  and  the 
pursuit  of  beauty  that  our  English  ancestors  made 
for  us,  and  in  our  homes  of  ease,  with  these  things 
about  us,  we  like  to  dream  of  the  men  and  women 
who  created  and  used  these  dignified  time-kissed  old 


56  JACOBEAN  FURNITURE 

pieces.  And  in  dreaming  we  forget  the  frailty  and 
cruelty  of  courts  and  rulers  and  think  on  the  nobility 
and  courage  of  the  lesser  yet  greater  folk  who  laid 
the  foundation  of  our  country. 


THE  END 


TABLE  OF  INTERESTING  DATES 


James  I.    1603  to  1625 
Shakespeare  died  1616 
First  American  Colonies,  Yorktown,  1607 
First  American  Colonies,  Plymouth,  1620 

Charles  I.    1625  to  1649 

Inigo  Jones,  Architect,  died  165 1 
Van  Dyck,  court  painter 
Sir  Francis  Crane 

Commonwealth  Under  Cromwell,  1649  T0 

Charles  II.    1660  to  1685 
The  Restoration 

Queen  Catherine  of  Braganza,  1660 

Bombay  Influence  and  East  India  Company,  1660 

Great  Fire  of  London,  1666 

Sir  Christopher  Wren,  1632-1723 

St.  Paul's  commenced,  1675 

Grinling  Gibbons,  1648-1726 

Mirror  Factory,  1673 

Chatsworth  Built,  1670 

James  II.    1685  to  1688 

Revocation  of  Edict  of  Nantes,  1685 
Spitalfields  Silk  Factories,  1685 

William  and  Mary.    1689  to  1702 
Daniel  Morot 

Hampton  Court,  principal  parts  built 
Queen  Anne.    1702  to  1714 


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